Ryan Dunleavy of the Post provides a status report on how all the different sports are handling their COVID-19 return planning:
NHL
Actual state: Suspended since March 12, when all teams had 11-14 regular season games remaining.
Restart situation: An approved 24-team tie will be grouped together in two central cities, with the top four teams in each conference playing round-trip games to determine the seed during their “goodbye.” The next eight in each conference play a best-of-five qualifying series (matchups already determined) to advance to the first round. The season is over for the teams in the last seven.
Location status: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh are possibilities. Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton are also competing, but will be discounted if Canada does not change its mandatory 14-day quarantine for anyone entering the country.
Calendar: Formal training camps will begin no later than July 1, pushing the start of the tournament until the end of July or the beginning of August and delaying the start of the 2020-21 season.
MLB
Actual state: Suspended since March 12, with less than two weeks remaining in spring training. The regular season was due to start on March 26.
Restart situation: MLB proposed an 82-game season and a sliding scale whereby the players who earn the most would lose the highest percentage of their wages. The players’ association opposed the proposal and is expected to counterattack with more games and no further pay cuts beyond agreed-upon prorated wages. It would be necessary to set up a new schedule emphasizing division games and limiting travel.
Location status: For spring training, some teams would return to their normal headquarters in Florida and Arizona, while others would meet in their home parks. For the regular season, the league hopes to play games at local parks. For the Blue Jays to play at home, Canada would need to give up its 14-day quarantine. There are likely to be games without fans, at least in the beginning.
Calendar: MLB expects a resumption of spring training in June, possibly shortened to two weeks, with regular-season games underway for the weekend of July 4 and a near-time completion of the playoffs. If games don’t start until August, it would mean a shorter schedule or rolling the dice against the weather and extending the regular season to October and the postseason to November.
Nfl
Actual state: As usual. Free agency, the draft and the release of the schedule skyrocketed without interruption.
Restart situation: The facilities are open to certain employees in states where the government allows it, but non-injured coaches and players are still prohibited. The coaches could simultaneously return next week throughout the league. Teams conduct virtual meetings / trainings for at least two more weeks.
Location status: The one or two city model does not work for the NFL given the nature of the schedule once a week. Teams may be able to relocate temporarily, especially for training camp, if their state’s recovery metrics lag far behind the others.
Calendar: Training camps are still scheduled to open in late July, the first preseason game is August 6 and the first game of the regular season is September 10. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy did not rule out the possibility that fans in the stands at some point and the Dolphins revealed a plan (scolded by Commissioner Roger Goodell) for limited-capacity seats.
NBA
Actual state: First league to suspend action, with some teams still on the court, on March 11, after Jazz star Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus. Players’ paychecks as of May were reduced by 25 percent, with the overall cut still to be determined.
Restart situation: Commissioner Adam Silver presented multiple options to the NBA Board of Governors. A vote on Silver’s preferred proposal could take place as early as next week, with July 31 as the target date to resume. The rest of the regular season will most likely be scrapped, with 20-24 teams returning.
Location status: The league will focus on housing, practices and games in a bubble of a city, expected to be at the Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando.
Calendar: Aiming for a July comeback.
Actual state: Delayed start of the regular season (May 15).
Restart situation: The draft made on April 17 established a maximum of 14 years for the hearing. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert hopes to play the full 36-game regular season and told the Washington Post: “We are getting much closer to a plan that is not changing as much.”
Location status: Unclear.
Calendar: It’s unclear, though the WNBA’s mandatory teams reduced the rosters to 12 by Monday to start paying players. A possible conflict under a long delay is that many WNBA stars play abroad in high-paying leagues during the winter months.
MLS
Actual state: Suspended from March 12, two weeks after the regular season.
Restart situation: Voluntary group training sessions are underway. A June restart of training camps for three to four weeks followed by group stage games and knockout rounds is reportedly on the table.
Location status: Entire league based at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando.
Calendar: MLS expects to squeeze the entire season in 10 weeks, according to ESPN.
PGA / LPGA
Actual state: They both suspended play on March 12, after a full round at the PGA The Players Championship.
Restart situation: The PGA will return from June 11-14 for the Charles Schwab Challenge without fans at the Colonial Country Club in Ft. Worth, Texas. The LPGA will return from July 23 to 26 for the Marathon Classic at the Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio, but could be canceled if fan attendance is not allowed.
NWSL
Actual state: Scheduled to be the first American league of professional sports teams to resume, after delaying the start of the regular season from April 18.
Restart situation: One-on-one practice returned on May 6, small group training returned this week, and team training is a few days away, racking up a June 27 comeback in a 25-game tournament.
Location status: Two sites in Utah.
Calendar: The nine teams will play four games in a preliminary round and the top eight will go through to knockout rounds that culminate in a final on July 26.
Tennis
Actual state: Wimbledon was canceled for the first time in 75 years, the French Open will take place from September 20 to October 4, and officials from the US Open. USA They are working on possible restart scenarios, but no decision has been made on the US Open. USA
Restart situation: All major tours are suspended through July 31, with more than 40 tournaments canceled from the combined men’s and women’s calendars. The exhibitions were contested in the United States and other parts of the world throughout May.
Boxing
Actual state: The World Boxing Council advised promoters and commissioners to place boxers and their teams in 14 days of isolation before organizing fan-free events. Judges will score fights by watching from home on television.
Restart situation: Top Rank boxing is slated to hold a series of fights at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, with the first five-fight card scheduled for June 9.
UFC
Restart situation: Nevada ended its suspension from combat sports on Wednesday and the UFC immediately announced a Fight Night for Saturday in Las Vegas, followed by UFC250 at the same site on June 6.
Car race
Restart situation: NASCAR returned to action on May 17 in South Carolina and races scheduled without fans in several southern states until June 21. IndyCar returns June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway, while the Indianapolis 500 miles were rescheduled for August 23. Formula 1 is waiting for a return for July 5 in Austria with no fans and a calendar from various continents until November. NHRA delayed its tentative restart from June to August in hopes of welcoming fans at 18 endurance racing events through November.
International football
Restart situation: The English Premier League will hold matches on June 17, more than three months after the closure, between Manchester City and Arsenal, as well as Aston Villa and Sheffield United, before all teams resume during the following weekend. week. The remaining 92 games will have no fans and some could be played on neutral sites to avoid groups of fans outside the gates. The Bundesliga in Germany resumed on May 16, while the Spanish League begins on June 11, Serie A in Italy on June 20 and the Champions League has been postponed. Euro 2020 and Copa América have been moved to 2021 (proposed dates from June 11 to July 11).
University sports
Actual state: The NCAA extended the deadline for recruitment (no face-to-face contact) in all sports until July 31 and allowed soccer and men’s and women’s basketball athletes to return to campus starting Monday. Conferences are already handling athletes’ return dates to campus very differently. Neither the NCAA nor the conferences will require the usual uniform start date, differing from state and local governments.
Football basketball: Steps are being taken to start on time, and Yahoo Sports reports that the NCAA football oversight committee could recommend an expanded six-week preseason camp model for approval in mid-June. The key question: Can athletes practice and play games when campuses are closed to academics? Several major California universities will offer virtual classes during the fall semester. Soccer may be played in some schools and not others, even within the same conference due to geographic dispersion. Basketball practice generally begins in mid-October and will follow the leadership of the NCAA Fall Sports.
Olympic Games
Restart situation: The Summer Olympics in Tokyo have been postponed and are scheduled to open on July 23, 2021 and close on August 8.
Canadian soccer league
Restart situation: Some teams have reopened the facilities and the rest are expected to do the same in the next two weeks. The league announced that it will not resume games before September, if it did, and the Gray Cup championship game will be played at the home of the top-ranked participant.
Horse racing
Restart situation: The Belmont Stakes will take place on June 20 without fans, as the first stage of the Triple Crown instead of the traditional one. The Kentucky Derby will begin on September 5 and the Preakness Stakes for October 3. The tracks are open in some states and will reopen in New York on Monday with Belmont starting Wednesday. New Jersey officials have not said if the tracks will be open in time for the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 18.
